'Helped Me Feel Relevant Again in the Classroom': Longitudinal Evaluation of a Research Experience for a Teachers' Program in Neural Engineering (Evaluation)

The Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program, supported by the National Science Foundation, engages pre-college teachers in authentic research experiences in university-based laboratories across the country. Some RET program sites engage science teachers in engineering research. With A Framework for K-12 Science and Engineering Education [1] and the Next Generation Science Standards [2] calling for the integration of engineering practices into science classes, K-12 teachers need support in being prepared to bring engineering design to their students. The Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering at the University of Washington has hosted a RET program for secondary science teachers since 2012, engaging a total of 22 teachers. This seven-week RET summer program was designed to provide science teachers with authentic research experiences in neural engineering labs and insights into the practices of professional engineers. The program also supports participating teachers as they design, implement, and revise engineering curriculum materials for their classrooms and for broad dissemination to other educators. Over 2,862 students have participated in activities from the RET curriculum units. In this paper, we describe the design of the RET program, the program evaluation methods implemented by an external evaluator, and our evaluation findings. We report yearly evaluation findings as well as trends over the program’s six year history. By sharing information on program design and longitudinal evaluation findings, RET program coordinators at other sites may benefit from our lessons learned and the best practices we have developed over the program’s history.